Section 41. Organization

1.  There  is  hereby  created  the Utica transit
  authority.  The  authority  shall  be  a  body  corporate  and   politic
  constituting  a  public  benefit  corporation  and shall be perpetual in
  duration and consist of at least  five  members.  The  chairman  of  the
  authority  shall,  before  the  authority becomes operative, cause to be
  filed in the office of the commissioner, and a duplicate in  the  office
  of  the  secretary  of  state,  a  certificate signed by him and setting
  forth: (a) the date of the passage of the special act  establishing  the
  authority;  (b)  the  name  of  the  authority; and (c) the names of the
  members and their terms, specifying which member is chairman.
    2. Three members, no more than two from any political party, shall  be
  appointed by the Mayor of the city of Utica; one for a term of two years
  to  terminate  on the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and
  seventy-one; one  for  a  term  of  three  years  to  terminate  on  the
  thirty-first  day of December, nineteen hundred and seventy-one; and one
  for a term of four  years  to  terminate  on  the  thirty-first  day  of
  December  nineteen  hundred and seventy-three. Two members, no more than
  one from any political party, shall be appointed by the  common  council
  of  the  city  of Utica; one for a term of two years to be terminated on
  the thirty-first day of December nineteen hundred and  seventy-one;  one
  for  a  term  of  three  years  to  terminate on the thirty-first day of
  December nineteen hundred and seventy-one. The present membership of the
  Utica transit commission, already so appointed under  local  law  number
  six  of  nineteen  hundred  and  sixty-five  of the city of Utica, shall
  constitute the membership of  the  Utica  transit  authority  for  terms
  coinciding  with the present terms of the Utica transit commission.  The
  present chairman of the Utica transit commission shall continue to serve
  his current term as chairman of the Utica transit authority.  The  mayor
  of  the city of Utica, the majority leader of the common council and the
  minority leader of the common council, as they have already been serving
  pursuant  to  said  local  law  number  six  of  nineteen  hundred   and
  sixty-five,  shall  serve as ex-officio members without voting rights of
  the Utica transit authority.
    Other municipalities electing to participate shall by their  governing
  body  appoint  one  member to the Utica transit authority to serve for a
  term of three years and who shall have a proportional vote multiplied by
  five  based  upon  the  same  percentage  as  the  population   of   the
  municipality he represents bears to the population of the city of Utica,
  said  populations  to  be  determined  by  the last decennial or federal
  county-wide special census. Any member of the authority shall  lose  his
  voting  rights  for  such  period  of  time as the municipality which he
  represents fails to make a pro-rata contribution toward the expenses  of
  the operation of the authority.
    A  member  of  the  authority  shall  continue  to hold office until a
  successor is appointed and has qualified.
    3. A majority of the whole number of members of a mass  transportation
  authority  then  in office shall constitute a quorum for the transaction
  of any business or the exercise of any power of the  authority.  A  mass
  transportation  authority  shall  have power to act by a majority of the
  members present at any meeting at which a quorum is in attendance.